The next version of the Black Widow to enter service was the P-61C, 
which was a high-performance variant designed to rectify some of the 
combat deficiencies encountered with the A and B variants.  

Most Black Widow crews were enthusiastic about their aircraft, and 
gave it high marks on both maneuverability and firepower.  However, 
they almost unanimously reported that the Black Widow was just not 
fast enough to make it a really great night fighter.  In addition, 
they felt that the operational ceiling could stand for some 
improvement.  By mid-1943, even before the combat debut of the Black 
Widow, both the USAAF and Northrop had come to the same conclusion, 
and on November 11, 1943, Northrop was given the go-ahead to proceed 
with an improved Black Widow, the XP-61C.  

The XP-61C was essentially the same Black Widow airframe but powered 
by turbosupercharged R-2800-73 radials offering a war emergency power 
of 2800 hp.  Northrop engineers had initially decided not to add 
turbosuperchargers to earlier P-61s because they were worried that 
they would increase the fuel consumption and adversely affect loiter 
times.  However, this time they decided that the performance gain that 
such turbosuperchargers offered more than offset any potential 
penalties.  

The XP-61C could be readily distinguished from its A and B prede- 
cessors by the presence of a large tumorous-looking bulge for the 
turbosuperchargers underneath each engine.  Paddle-bladed A.O. Smith 
propellers were fitted in order to take advantage of the increased 
engine power.  Performance predictions included a maximum speed of 430 
mph at 30,000 feet.  

Work on the P-61C proceeded quite slowly at Northrop because of the 
higher priority of the XB-35 flying wing project.  In fact, much of 
the work on the P-61C was farmed out to Goodyear, which had been a 
subcontractor for production of Black Widow components.  It was not 
until early 1945 that the first production P-61C-1-NO rolled off the 
production lines.  As promised, the performance was substantially 
improved in spite of a two-thousand pound increase in empty weight.  
Maximum speed was 430 mph at 30,000 feet, service ceiling was 41,000 
feet, and an altitude of 30,000 feet could be attained in 14.6 
minutes.  

The P-61C was equipped with perforated fighter airbrakes located both 
below and above the wing surfaces.  These were to provide a means of 
preventing the pilot from overshooting his target during an intercept.  
For added fuel capacity, the P-61C was equipped with four underwing 
pylons (two inboard of the nacelles, two outboard) which could carry 
four 310-gallon drop tanks.  

The first P-61C aircraft was accepted by the USAAF in July of 1945.  
However, the war in the Pacific ended before any P-61Cs could see 
combat.  The forty-first and last P-61C-1-NO was accepted on January 
28, 1946.  At least thirteen more were completed by Northrop but were 
scrapped before they could be delivered to the USAAF.  Northrop 
records show an additional 400 P-61Cs with 1945 serial numbers to have 
been on order, with blocks 5 and 10 being at least in the planning 
stages.  

Most pilots who flew the P-61C felt that the increase in weight made 
the aircraft a lot less maneuverable than the A or B versions.  The 
service life of the P-61C was quite brief, since it was being quickly 
outclassed by jet aircraft.  Most were used for test and research 
purposes.  By the end of March 1949, most P-61Cs had been scrapped.  
Two went onto the civilian market and two others went to museums.  

P-61C-1-NO serial number 43-8352 is currently on display at the 
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum in Dayton, Ohio.  It is, 
however, marked as P-61B-1-NO serial number 42-39468.  

The Smithsonian Institution's P-61C-1-NO (43-8330) is reportedly in 
storage at the Silver Hill facility in Suitland, Maryland, awaiting 
much-needed restoration work.  I was at Silver Hill in November of 
1992, and I didn't see it there at at that time.  However, there were 
only a few buildings that I was allowed to enter, and there are a lot 
of really intriguing buildings that I did not get a chance to see.  
Perhaps the Smithsonian's Black Widow is in one of them.  

Serial numbers of the P-61Cs were as follows: 

43-8321/8361 	Northrop P-61C-1-NO Black Widow 
			Modification of 8338 as XP-61F canceled.  
43-8362/8437 	Northrop P-61C Black Widow - contract canceled 
45-001/400 	Northrop P-61C Black Widow - contract canceled 

Sources:

  Northrop P-61 Black Widow--The Complete History and Combat Record, 
  Garry R. Pape, John M. Campbell and Donna Campbell, Motorbooks 
  International, 1991.  

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.  

  Warplanes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume 4, William Green, 
  1964.  

  American Combat Planes, Ray Wagner, Third Enlarged Edition, Doubleday, 
  1982.  

  United States Military Aircraft since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and 
  Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.  

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548